Farmall 140 Transmission

Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:02 pm

I recently bought a 1972 Farmall 140 that I plan on using for working in my pea patch. The tractor looks to be in great shape but the transmission was pretty noisy. Several people had told me that that was normal for these tractors. After I bought it and used it a while the noise started really bothering me. I had read on these forums about if you let bearings go too far, it could get real expensive. Well I pulled the shifter plate off to take a look and everything looked pretty good, the gears had all their teeth. The bearings had some play so I started studying about how to split the tractor and replace the bearings. After reading several posts I decided to let someone else do the job because I wasn't too sure I could do it without hurting myself. The guy I carried it to said that it would be about 1200 to 1500 bucks to do the work. Well he called me today and said it was ready and my bill was about 2800 bucks. All he did was replace bearings in the transmission, he did not work on anything else. Y'all are the experts on these tractors so I have to ask....how bad am I getting screwed? As you can imagine I am pretty hacked off! I would appreciate any input, I hate dealing with people that don't live up to their word.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:13 pm

Sounds pretty steep to me I just did my super A transmission (very similar) and have less than $300 in all new bearings, seals and gaskets.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:18 pm

Sorry to here of your trouble, if he bought the bearing from Case/IH they were high I am sure, but long story short you got greased up right good, you could have bought a 140 for that. I fear if the transmission was junk you may have yet more problems to come. I could run the cost of the bearings but would take some time. just chalk it up to a learning experience.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:36 pm

I could not sleep at night if I treated customers like that....in fact I probably won't be able to sleep tonight being so mad! I'm sure we will have words when I pick it up. I guess I could stop payment on the check when I drive off and then mail him the amount he quoted me.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:55 pm

I would ask for a VERY detailed bill and go from there.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:59 pm

I hope it is quiet now

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:19 pm

For 2800 bucks it ought to be a STEALTH tractor! Its kind of like when the doctor pulled out the rubber glove to do that special examination. I told him I hoped that he wasn't going to to try to kiss me. The look on his face was priceless. Maybe that's what I should tell my mechanic.......ain't you gonna kiss me first?

I think I need to take another blood pressure pill!

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:14 pm

Can anyone tell me what would be a reasonable amount of man hours to split the 140 and replace the transmission seals and bearings? I'm going to pick it up tomorrow and want to be able to see if his hourly rate is close. I figured about 16 hours would be plenty for someone that knows what they are doing. Am I even close?

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:38 pm

Here's a link to an old Flat Rate Manual: http://www.cleancomputes.com/Cub/I&T%20 ... index.html You may be able to get an idea for your purposes by checking the tranny section. It doesn't specifically list the 140, but does list the 130. I think towards the front it tells you what hourly rate the flat rates are based on. With that, you could figure hours needed and estimate what you should have been charged. Good luck with your negotiations. Did you have any kind of written estimate from the shop?

Bob

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:18 pm

No i did not get a written quote....never again. This mechanic has worked on my other tractor so I trusted him. I've been thru my manual and have part numbers for all the bearings, gaskets, and seals and will get some prices from case in the morning which will be the highest. There is another post on here that shows priced all the parts and was about $ 400 also. I just want to be prepared when I go in to argue with him. Hopefully he just looked at the wrong bill. I will check the site out thanks for the post.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:47 pm

If I read it right it says 42.5 hours for the transmission. At $ 56.50 an hour times 42.5 hours comes up to $ 2400. Add $400 for bearings it totals $ 2800. Sounds like he missed it pretty bad.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:29 pm

JLP wrote:If I read it right it says 42.5 hours for the transmission.

I believe it is saying $42.50 at $5 per hour. That would mean 8.5 hours.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:23 am

Thanks Jim. I didn't do a very good job at reading the front of the manual Thanks to this forum I will be well informed when I pick it up tomorrow.

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:12 am

Sorry to hear of this! We once took a tractor to CASE/IH to have a clutch put in (never again) and the price they quoted us was like $1,200 and when we picked it up the bill was $1,900. We chalked it up as a learning expierence and will do our best not to have anything else repaired there. And on top of all of that it was the mechanics FIRST time he had worked on an IH Farmall tractor! ugghhhh

What came of the situation with your 140 transmission repair bill....update?

Re: Farmall 140 Transmission

Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:59 pm

He did a little refiguring when I told him I had been to Case checking bearing prices. He came down some, but it wasnt enough. I will be doing my own work from now on no matter how busy I am.

The bill had 9 bearings, 3 seals, and 6 gaskets. Total parts $ 735 and labor was 16 HRS @ $80/HR for which totaled $1280. Total bill was $2,015 before tax (I'm not tax exempt). I took a picture of the bill, but have not studied on how to post it on this forum.

He said he did have to replace bearings in the PTO and I had seen play in the shaft. I will have to say the tractor is much quieter now and hopefully will last the rest of my life without having to do much to it.